Page 33 of Never Finished

I laughed as I shut the door behind me and followed her to her room so she could retrieve her running shoes. "You know, you might actually like it if you give it a chance. Besides, when you hear about what my father just said to me, I don't think you'll even notice we’re outdoors, which is a pity."

She looked at me expectantly. "Well, don't let me leave in suspense… I would say I don’t have all day, but we both know I do," she said, giving me a teasing smile. Once again, I was so grateful she was here.

Thankfully, Caroline was equal parts appalled and supportive as I shared the latest despicable exchange with my father and I felt renewed by the time we came back from our hike… though Caroline looked a little worse for the wear after communing with the great outdoors.

***

"Where are we going, Jaime?" I asked late that night.

He smiled at me wickedly. "Patience, Bella."

I was tired from the emotionally and physically draining day, but I couldn’t imagine being anywhere else than with this man, even if he was taking us to a dark, secluded area.

We started the night with a lavish dinner, just as Jaime promised me—at Mabel’s. It was definitely a trip down memory lane to be seated in the booth across from Jaime again. It almost felt like the younger version of him was sitting across from me, and yet I was delighted with this new manlier version, too.

I did my best to push out the conversation I had with my father out of my head. When I told Caroline I planned to spend the evening with Jaime, she'd coach me to just enjoying the evening and not let my dad ruin anything else.

"Emma, it's one thing when a father gets involved in his eighteen-year-old daughter's life. Parents want to protect their kids from the mistakes they need to make and learn from. He may have had good intentions back then, but this latest stunt feels like a power play. He’s trying to control you," Caroline said cautiously.

"You're thirty years old. You negotiate multi-million-dollar mergers and manage a team of people who depend on you, and you do so with tenacity and grace. The fact that he still treats you like a child is more than worrisome. He has no right to tell you who you can and can't spend time with. And that little dig about your mother being embarrassed by your behavior? I hope her ghost haunts his ass relentlessly. Karma’s a bitch."

That made me laugh. "I'm serious," Carolina said, "I realize Mama Carter is probably way too sweet for that, but if there was ever a time for her to roll over in her grave and start putting the fear of God in your father, it would be going after her baby girl like this."

Maybe it was wrong that I found Caroline's anger on my behalf so comforting, but it made me realize how much Caroline, Abby and I had acted like pseudo-mothers for one another. In times of need, we were more than just best friends and soul sisters. Very often we were the parents each other needed because our actual parents weren’t capable.

"Come on. You have to recognize some of this," Jaime said, breaking into my thoughts.

I tried to decipher landmarks around me, but it wasn't until we drove around a curve and I saw a cabin in the distance that it started clicking together. "The lake?"

He smiled at me. "I can't believe you don't remember."

I laughed. "Please, you think I forgot about the lake? It's just so dark out here and I'm so used to the light pollution in LA—I’m having a hard time getting my eyes to adjust in the dark. If you brought me out here during the day, I would have known right away," I said, throwing my gaze out through the windshield, taking in the landscape.

Silver Lake was where Jaime and I would meet up in secret when we were kids. I would sneak out of my bedroom window and walk a few blocks before he would pick me up so my parents wouldn't hear the starting of his truck.

Ironically, Jaime still had that same truck, and I felt like a teenager again as he pulled through the clearing close to the edge of the lake.

I smiled when I saw the familiar dock and looked back at Jaime’s sexy profile. "Yeah," I whispered, "I remember this all too well." He had no idea I had visited this place in my mind countless times over the years. That it served as a refuge when things were hard and the sorrowful reminder of what might've been.

He looked at me then, his eyes shining with a small smile playing at his lips. "Shall we?"

I resisted the urge to launch myself across the bench seat of the truck and kiss him. I could sense he was going for a moment here, and while I wanted to feel his lips on mine, I pushed it aside. "Let’s do it."

He got out of the driver's side of the truck, grabbing something from the backseat before coming around to my side, opening the door and offering me his hand.

I took it, climbing down from the passenger seat and followed him to our spot next to the pier. It was chilly, but Jaime had grabbed a blanket and laid it out on the ground.

I'd followed his instructions from our call earlier today and wore an old, worn-out Stanford t-shirt and comfy jeans. No corporate Emma in sight.

I sat down on the blanket as he settled down next to me, stretching out his long legs next to my shorter ones, his shoulder bumping against mine, sending sparks of pleasure through me. Only he could make me so excited just from the bump of a shoulder.

"I know it's not quite the same," he said, "but I couldn't resist."

"Say no more," I reassured him. This had been a special spot for us growing up. It held all our secrets from years past: how I worried my father would send me far away after high school when I just wanted to stay here to be close to the place and people I loved. How Jaime wasn't sure what he wanted to do, but he knew it wasn't construction like his father. I didn’t know then that my worst fears would come true and I would lose Jaime.

I hadn’t noticed when he put his arm around me, but I felt Jaime stiffen in question as a fresh wave of anger at my father's words from earlier washed over me. "Emma? Are you okay? You got tense all of a sudden."

I shook my head. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just stupid stuff from work, but I don't want that ruining our evening."

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